In a memory cell of a NOR-type flash memory having a control gate and a charge accumulation layer, the one having a MOS transistor structure in which electric charge is injected into the charge accumulation layer through the use of a hot electron has been publicly known (see, for example, T. Tanzawa, Y. Takano, T. Taura, and S. Atsumi, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 35, no. 10, p. 1415-1421, 2000). Variations in threshold voltage resulting from variations in the charge accumulation state of the charge accumulation layer are stored as data “0”, “1”. For example, in the case of an N-channel memory cell using a floating gate in the charge accumulation layer, in order to inject electric charge into the floating gate, high voltage is applied to a control gate and a drain diffusion layer and a source diffusion layer and a semiconductor substrate are grounded. At this point, the source-drain voltage raises the energy of electrons in the semiconductor substrate, making them overcome the energy barrier of a tunnel oxide film and injecting them into the charge accumulation layer. As a result of this charge injection, the threshold voltage of the memory cell shifts in a positive direction. The ratio of the current injected into the charge accumulation layer to the current flowing between the source-drain is small. As a result, the current required for writing is of the order of 100 μA per cell, making it unsuitable for enhancing the speed of writing.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are an equivalent circuit and a layout, respectively, of a memory cell array of the conventional NOR-type flash memory described in the aforementioned Literature. The memory cells are arranged in a matrix. Bit lines (BL1, BL2, . . . ) are laid out in a column direction (a vertical direction in FIGS. 1 and 2), control gate lines (WL1, W12, . . . ) are laid out in a row direction (a horizontal direction in FIGS. 1 and 2), a source line is laid out in the row direction, and the source line (SL) is connected to all the source diffusion layers of the memory cells connected to the control gate lines.
With the recent development of semiconductor technology, in particular, with the development of microfabrication technology, a memory cell of a flash memory has been becoming rapidly miniaturized, and the capacities thereof has been becoming rapidly high. In the NOR-type flash memory, due to the above-described writing method it adopts, the short channel effect causes an increase in a leakage current, making it impossible to read and write data normally, and it has become difficult to reduce the gate length of the memory cell.
On the other hand, in a memory cell of a NAND-type flash memory having a control gate and a charge accumulation layer, the one having a MOS transistor structure in which electric charge is injected into the charge accumulation layer through the use of an FN (Fowler-Nordheim) tunnel current has been publicly known (see, for example, JP-H1-173652A). In the case of an N-channel memory cell using a floating gate in the charge accumulation layer, in order to inject electric charge into the floating gate, a voltage perpendicular to the memory cell is applied to a control gate, whereby electrons can be injected into the floating gate. At this point, the source-drain of the memory cell with the floating gate into which electrons are injected are grounded. On the other hand, to the source-drain of the memory cell with the floating gate into which no electron is injected, the same positive voltage is applied, whereby writing into the memory cell is blocked. In this NAND-type flash memory, there is no need to apply voltage between the source-drain of the memory cell. As a result, as compared with the flash memory injecting the electric charge into the charge accumulation layer through the use of the hot electron, the flash memory injecting the electric charge into the charge accumulation layer through the use of the FN tunnel current achieves a reduction in the gate length of the memory cell more easily. Furthermore, the flash memory injecting the electric charge into the charge accumulation layer by using the FN tunnel current can perform writing and erasing in both directions on the entire channel surface, making it possible to concurrently realize high-speed writing and high reliability (see, for example, T. Endoh, R. Shirota, S. Aritome, and F. Masuoka, IEICE Transactions on Electron, Vol. E75-C, no. 11, pp. 1351-1357, November 1992).
Therefore, in the NOR-type flash memory, it is necessary to inject the electric charge into the charge accumulation layer through the use of the FN tunnel current.
However, it is difficult to perform, for a selected one memory cell, injection of electric charge into the charge accumulation layer through the use of the FN tunnel current by using the equivalent circuit of the conventional NOR-type flash memory shown in FIG. 1. When high voltage is applied to a control gate line, all the memory cells connected to the control gate line are brought into conduction, and, since the source line is connected to all the memory cells connected to the control gate line, all the bit lines are short-circuited. It is for this reason that, by using a conventional planar memory cell, source lines connected to the sources of the memory cells are laid out in the column direction. An equivalent circuit and a layout of the memory cell array of the NOR-type flash memory thus obtained are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, as a result of the source lines and the bit lines being laid out in the same wiring layer, the area of the memory cell becomes twice or more than that of the case where the hot electron is used.